


The Hunter's Lifestyle

by TalkMagically



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, Meta Essay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-07
Updated: 2018-12-07
Packaged: 2019-09-13 14:59:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16894773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TalkMagically/pseuds/TalkMagically
Summary: This is a meta essay I wrote back in 2014 about how Azazel had more of an effect on John, Dean, and Sam's life than we give him credit for, and how John often gets blamed for things that Azazel did via manipulation.





	The Hunter's Lifestyle

We have no real-life equivalency for the hunter’s life. We have similar things, such as soldiers, mercenaries, and bounty hunters, but we do  _not_  have a direct equivalency. There will always be details and emotions that we will never understand when it comes to the hunter’s lifestyle. This makes the lifestyle a concept that is akin to explaining nuclear physics to a 13-year-old. They’ll understand words here and there, but they won’t truly get the concept.

I believe this is why a majority of the fandom goes after John when it comes to Dean and Sam. All three Winchester men had extremely shitty lives thanks to Azazel forcing them into the hunter’s lifestyle (and Azazel  _is_  to blame). We have seen Dean and Sam’s self worth lower and lower over the seasons until it became nearly non-existent. The hunter’s lifestyle is never a happy one, no matter how much one may enjoy the act of hunting supernatural creatures. As we were told in the show, no one ever makes it out of the hunting life alive. Cue the hatred for John.

Azazel didn’t give John any choice. If John wanted his boys to stay alive, he had to become a hunter (or something akin to one). John  _needed_  to kill demons to protect Sam and Dean. John  _needed_  to keep all three of them on the move so they were never cornered by Azazel’s latest tool. John  _needed_  to make the decisions he did to keep his boys safe. This was to the detriment of all three of them, but it was either that or death. However, John is not to blame for the boys’ current state. The hunter’s lifestyle,  _the concept we can never truly understand_ , is to blame. John is the device used to raise the boys in the hunter’s lifestyle, but he was just as much a victim as they are. Azazel was the ultimate puppet master by forcing them into the lifestyle because he knew the lifestyle would turn all three Winchester men into the kind of men they became.

But it’s not so easy to blame a concept we cannot understand. Sure, we can blame Azazel for forcing the Winchester men into the lifestyle and flicking the first domino, but the lifestyle is to blame for all the damage and everything else collapsing. Who Dean and Sam are right now resulted in a series of events. John, on the other hand, is an easily identifiable character because he appeared on screen and he was the one forced to bring Dean and Sam along with him during his efforts to protect them. The simple fact that John brought Dean and Sam along is enough for many in the fandom to hate him, regardless of the fact that he wasn’t given any other realistic choice to make. And, if you think about it, that is also on Azazel. Not only did he need the boys to be hunters, but he needed Sam distant from John. Azazel had no real chance at getting Sam after the teacher incident until Sam went to Stanford. We, the audience, are given a view of John Winchester during his hunt for Azazel. We also know that demons  _can_  and  _do_  screw around with forms of communication to get their way. Dean called Sam to apologize and Ruby made damn sure Sam heard only insults. With his need to keep John distant from the boys, Azazel could have easily screwed around with John’s cell phone to make sure John either never received their phone calls or heard the wrong ones. Azazel played with John like a cat plays with a mouse before they eat it, and there is evidence of it in every one of John’s episodes.

The fandom blames John because it’s just easier to blame a character we have seen than blame a concept we won’t ever understand. Blaming something we don’t understand simply doesn’t sit right with us. I cry foul on this. On Azazel’s great chess board the Winchester men were mere pawns in his eyes, and you don’t blame one pawn when another is taken by the other team.


End file.
